Originally Posted by
faloppi
Hello,
First post here and I did try to search with some conflicting answers. If I am a AA Gold member trying to confirm a transcon upgrade for myself and a companion, and expert flyer is showing A inventory as 1, am I better off waitlisting for an upgrade award, or taking my chances with sticker upgrades? Not from a value perspective, but more so my best shot at securing the upgrade as a lowly elite. Do upgrade awards with miles+copay usually clear before sticker upgrades to even EXP? Or is this still a gray area and is at the whim of how much work a GA wants to do or AA's computers with a mind of their own. Any insight would be appreciated. This is a great forum. Thanks.
If ExpertFlyer is showing A1, then there's no need to waitlist--you can grab the upgrade right now.
I think that most folks on this forum would advise you to grab the A inventory and use miles+copay if you are absolutely determined to upgrade this transcon flight. I think that even with the copay, 15k miles+$50 is a pretty good deal for an upgrade on an AFS flight since you are not EXP. 15k miles are worth $300 (assuming a value of $0.02/mile) plus $50 copay, with the added benefit of having it confirmed immediately. By contrast, sticker upgrades as GLD can cost you money as well ($30 per 500 miles of travel, so 5 of them to upgrade JFK-LAX) unless you've earned them, and they do NOT guarantee the upgrade. As many will tell you, AFS transcons are notoriously difficult to score sticker upgrades, even for PLTs and sometimes even EXPs. So, your chances as a GLD are very slim.
As far as the mathematical probability of your electronic upgrade's clearing, you would have to ask HNL to check punch it into the patented Up-Check™ system.
